Keep your favorite recipes & other stuff in one place, organized how you want.

Login or Join to save this now.

Study Shows Booze Boosts Immunity Better Than Vaccines Alone

Posted on Feb 12, 2016

According to researchers at Oregon Health & Science University, you might actually be better off heading straight to the bar after your next flu shot.

As recapped in Mother Jones, the study—first published in the journal Vaccine—showed some hopeful results. Subjects who drank moderately over the course of a few months had better immune responses following immunizations than heavy drinkers, as you might expect. Surprisingly, though, they fared even better than those in a control group that abstained, yet another indicator that moderate drinking is better for youthan going completely dry.

There’s one catch: The patients in this study were rhesus macaques, primates with very similar immune systems to those found in humans, so it remains to be seen if the same effect can be replicated in everyday drinkers. Still, we’re not taking any chances; we’ll see you at happy hour.